Grassroots Wilmington music fests team up with The Queen

The People's Festival, billed as a tribute to Bob Marley, endures even 36 years after the iconic singer's death. His image was inescapable at the Market Street reggae celebration in Wilmington. One devotee tells us why.

William Bretzger/The News Journal

Wilmington's People's Festival honoring former city resident and reggae icon Bob Marley will move from Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park to The Queen with Live Nation now booking the festival's headliners.

The summertime street festival will have an outdoor stage on Market Street for local and regional acts in front of The Queen during the day with a ticketed reggae concert at the 800-person downtown venue at night.

In addition, Live Nation has formed a separate, similar partnership for the annual Ladybug Music Festival with The Queen booking and hosting headliners for a ticketed show in addition to the free street festival.

Ladybug, founded in 2012 by Wilmington-based event company Gable Music Ventures, expanded to two days last year — Thursday and Friday — with the hope that The Grand would book a national headliner to coincide. It never materialized and this year they're trying The Queen.

Delaware's Nadjah Nicole performs on the main stage during the Ladybug Festival in Wilmington.

Delaware's Nadjah Nicole performs on the main stage during the Ladybug Festival in Wilmington.

WILLIAM BRETZGER/THE NEWS JOURNAL

For its seventh edition, the festival will be moved to the weekend. It will run Friday, July 20 at its traditional home in the 200 block of North Market Street and Saturday, July 21, in the 500 block at The Queen. In addition, Ladybug will expand for a one-day event in Milford on Sept. 22, officials recently announced.

Gayle Dillman, co-founder of Gable, gave fans an idea about what to expect for a headliner now that Live Nation is on board: "We're looking for the mid-range, up-and-coming woman — someone you might see at Union Transfer [in Philadelphia]."

Past Ladybug headliners have included roots act Larkin Poe, who performs at this year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, and singer/songwriter Mary Lambert, who can be heard on "Same Love" by hip-hop duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. The festival hosted a total of about 75 free performances across two days last year.

The Wailers perform at the 23rd annual People's Festival at The Queen in Wilmington last summer. A ...more

The Wailers perform at the 23rd annual People's Festival at The Queen in Wilmington last summer. A threatening storm forced the festival to move indoors, leading to a new partnership.

Courtesy of The Queen

Trenton Banks, general manager of The Queen, says the pair of partnerships were hammered out around the same time, but they were coincidental.

"They came together in completely different ways and circumstances," he says, adding that the events will help draw crowds into the re-branded Queen, which had been operated by World Cafe Live. "We've been open for a little over eight months and we're still trying to get the word out about some of the changes that we've made inside and out."

Banks hopes to perhaps piggyback on the idea with small outdoor festivals at The Queen with possible ideas ranging from Cinco de Mayo to hip-hop fests.

While Ladybug's desire to partner with an outside venue is not new, it hadn't been a consideration for People's Festival until a particularly nasty-looking weather forecast last year.

The festival has been prime for a rebirth after "treading water for years," says Genny Pitts, who co-founded the festival in 1994 with her husband Ibis. Both were friends with the Marley family when they lived in town.

The Pitts' son, Abe, teamed up with social media consultant and brand strategist Matt Van Belle in an attempt to save the floundering fest after Ibis passed away in 2013, leaving the entire production in Genny's hands.

But when a storm in 2016 threatened what was a planned comeback fest with 2,000 fans expected, they hatched a new plan on the fly. In a meeting with Live Nation officials at The Queen, a shotgun marriage came together.

The festival was moved to The Queen with 36 hours notice with headliners The Wailers performing on the downstairs stage instead of along the Christina River.

Trenton Banks, general manager of The Queen, says Live Nation will team up with local festivals.

Trenton Banks, general manager of The Queen, says Live Nation will team up with local festivals.

File photo

It was deemed a success by organizers, including the team of 60 volunteers from across the community who gave a thumbs up, Pitts says, adding, "It was a gift from heaven. It really was the answer to my prayers."

She says the cost of renting the park and staging the festival from the ground up was becoming a problem. With The Queen, costs are lower and the staging, staffing and ticketing for the concert will be handled by the venue.

The festival had been held at the Riverfront park since 1997 after hosting its first three years at Frawley Stadium, Rodney Square and a downtown parking lot where the New Castle County Courthouse now stands.

In the past, various members of the Marley family have performed at the festival, including Ziggy, Stephen and Ky-Mani. As their careers took off, it became harder for the festival to book them, Van Belle says. With Live Nation on board, that could change.

Another side effect of the change: part of the festival will now be free for the first time. In the past, you had to purchase a ticket to get past the park gates even if you just wanted to grab some food and buy some crafts. Now, the street festival, beer garden and food vendors and local stage will be open to the public with the nighttime concert as the only ticketed portion of the event.

Two months before he died, Ibis Pitts was on The Queen's stage playing his congas as part of an acoustic performance by Stephen Marley, the Wilmington-born, eight-time Grammy-winning son of Bob Marley.

With a little piece of him on that stage, Genny Pitts is happy to call The Queen the People's Festival's new home, preserving the festival "hopefully for the next 25 years."